Habits
Time.
The number one thing we all want more of.
We all have the same number of hours and minutes in a day – how are you spending yours?
The people who wrote their book all have one thing in common - they prioritised their writing. They watched less Netflix, they stayed in more nights than go out, they spent time on their weekends writing. In fact, they made the most of any spare moment to write.
Are you doing the same?
Writing requires dedication and there are sacrifices that will need to be made. As a society, we’re time-poor and exhausted.
In research conducted during 2023, a mere 6% of the authors who participated in the research reported that there are no competing demands for their writing time, proving that many published authors find it difficult to maintain time to work on their writing. I would say nearly every writer experiences this.
We’re always busy with something. In saying that, if we don’t act when we can, we will always find excuses for the reasons why we didn’t write.
And although we all have the same 24 hours in a day, it is really important to acknowledge that the ways we spend our time is not equal or equitable.
We all have responsibilities in our lives and they vary from person to person. Some responsibilities have very real consequences if we fail to show up for them - we risk something very important if we don’t.
When I talk about defining your priorities, this is what I mean; a priority is a task deemed more important than another because of the potential consequences of leaving it unfulfilled.
Different priorities have differing levels of consequence. You may dislike your job and wish you could stay home and write, but if it is the only thing putting food on the table, then it remains a priority.
I can guarantee that our current situations are vastly different depending on (but not limited to) our financial situation, our parenting or caregiving responsibilities, our health, and the intersections of race, class, gender and sexuality to name a few. It is not my place to decide whether writing can be, or is a priority in your life - only you can do that based on the life you are living today.
I also believe that we all have the ability to show up to write, in our own way.
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Don’t wait for writing time to fall in your lap. Work to make time, even if it’s only one day a week. It’s a start. Writing often takes sacrifice — meaning you need to trade some down time for writing time.
The time you schedule to write must be for writing only. Any planning or researching can be done outside of your writing time, not during it.
During your writing session, if you get stuck on something, flag it in some way and then go back to it later. Stopping to check ‘one thing’ breaks the flow of writing and often leads us down an internet rabbit hole (sometimes never to return).
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Wherever you choose to write, hopefully it is comfortable and is a space where you can stay focused for long periods of time. Not everyone will have a spare room in their home where they can close the door to the outside world. Not everyone can afford to stay in a hotel for a week to finish up that first draft. But we can all make do with what we have. If you’re sharing a space, consider tiny rituals that helps transition from everyday time to writing time.
A tiny ritual could be as simple as wiping down the bench, making a cup of your favourite drink, setting the mood with some writing tunes, and away you go!
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Some distractions are easy to manage, others are not. For example, it is easy to turn our phones on silent, turn off notifications, or simply turn it off for your scheduled writing time.
An energetic toddler is another story.
I recommend unplugging yourself from everything connected to the internet, and from everyday life, when and where you can. If you’re not able to eliminate distractions, reducing them will still be of benefit.
Again, it important to do the best you can with what you have available to you.
Do you need to have a conversation with someone about helping to make it happen?
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When your time is limited, it is important to be strategic in how you use it. Decide how long your writing sessions are going to be, allow some wiggle room on either side (to get comfy, allow your brain to switch modes, etc).
Short bursts are often more effective than longer ones and you will know what suits you most. Set a timer and commit to that time.
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Schedule the time (ahead of time!) and honour it. Honour yourself and your wants and needs. Keep making your writing time a priority.
I recommend having a think about the ways that your partner/s, housemates, families, or friends can support you in honouring your writing time.
Don’t be afraid of asking for what you need to ease the mental and physical workloads required to help you write.
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Writing doesn’t have to be done on a computer or with a paper and pen. Get creative in finding ways to make writing time more accessible in your day.
We have a high-powered writing device close to hand at all times – our phones. USE IT!
There are so many tools now that can help you with your writing when you’re on the go.
Look for the gaps in your days, such as waiting in line at the post office, on your commute, or waiting for lunch to reheat.
Dictation is a great way to get ideas down. It can be used while driving to work, vacuuming the house, cooking dinner, walking the dog, or doing the dishes.
The Audit:
When do you want to write?
The first thing for you to consider is what time of day is your ideal writing time. What time of day allows you to do your best writing?
For example, I have worked out that once I start work for the day and dive into life things, my capacity for creative writing is greatly reduced. Therefore, I structure my weekdays to incorporate writing time at the start of my day. I write for 30 minutes before I start work (and yes, it means starting my day 30 minutes earlier to fit it in)!
This might take you a while to figure out – you may already know what time in the day is best for you to write (and your optimal length of writing time). For me, 30 mins a day really adds up over the week and is far more effective than trying for sit for several consecutive hours on a weekend!
Now, we’re going to make time in your schedule for that writing time!
If you would like some guidance through the following exercises, you can find a Google doc HERE! Don’t forget to DUPLICATE it before you start!
What are your non-negotiables?
Non-negotiables are the things in your life that regardless of what is happening, these are the things that are always prioritised, no matter what. They’re the things that support your wellbeing and allow you to show up in the other areas of your life.
These are the priorities that, going back to defining success, are part of our lifestyle design.
Now before you come at me, there are always going to be things in our lives that we must do or deal with that we wish we didn’t have to. Tragedy happens, people get sick or injured, the list goes on.
However, for the most part, these things are out of our control. What we’re focusing on here are the things that we can control – how we choose to show up, and what we choose to spend our time on.
There are many, many people for whom paid work is a non-negotiable, along with care giving responsibilities, medical management and so on.
But if you’re wanting to publish a book and you’re spending every evening binging on Netflix and mindlessly scrolling on social media, that doesn’t tell me that your writing is a priority.
Living your best writing life is about accepting what we cannot control or change, and being very intentional about what we can.
We’re going to split our non-negotiables into two categories: personal and life.
In the personal column are the non-negotiable things that you do for your own wellbeing, including your writing practice. These could include:
Morning and/or evening routines
Moving your body
Meal prep for weekly eating
Reading in bed first thing every day
Drinking your morning coffee sitting down (as opposed to rushing out the front door with it)
Time spent with loved ones – friends, family, partner/s
Illness management
In the life column are the non-negotiables things that we must do to sustain our lives such as:
Work
Care giving
Education
Household management
These are just a few examples – our personal and life non-negotiables are going to be different and individual for each of us.
Track your time
This exercise is based on one from my coach and it really highlighted how poorly I was using my time. As a small business owner, this was not what I wanted to see! I can personally vouch for how valuable this exercise is to complete.
It can be a really tedious activity, but I promise it is worth doing. I want you to track every minute of your time for one full week (and preferably an average week in your life, one without holidays or conferences or other ‘one-off’ events).
During the chosen week, you are going to start by tracking every activity you do in a week, and the time it takes you to complete that task. I mean it – every activity. Including all the time you spend scrolling on social media, watching TV, cooking, driving, breastfeeding, wrangling small children, or hugging the dog.
I also want you to make a note each day of when your energy is at its highest and lowest.
Set yourself up a time tracker like the example in the Google doc, or use that one!
Let’s Review
At the end of the week, it is time to review everything that you logged.
We’re going to start by grouping all the same tasks and activities – driving, scrolling social media, cooking, sleeping etc and add up the time spent doing each one over the week.
Do the numbers surprise you?
Did your non-negotiable priorities show up in your week? Did you make time for them?
If not, what prevented you from doing them? What got in the way? What did you find yourself doing instead?
Part of defining our priorities is to help make more time for them and get rid of the things that are taking up unnecessary space.
This part of the time audit is about identifying stressors or the things that are no longer serving you and to try and do something about it.
Go through each item on your tracked time and ask yourself, ‘Does this align with my vision and priorities?’ If yes, move on to the next item. If not, ask yourself, ‘Does this support me, my loved ones, or my goals?’ If not, cross through it on your time tracking sheet (so that you can still read it). Once you finish with all the tasks that filled your week, go through the ones that you crossed out (said ‘no’ to) and ask yourself if you are going to: ‘do it differently’, ‘delegate it’, or ‘ditch it’. Mark the column you decide.
Batching tasks
Batching is the process of grouping like tasks or activities to create more efficiency in your life.
Now that you have a list of the main tasks and activities that are serving you, how can we batch certain tasks in your week – bringing them together instead of having them scattered through your week - to streamline the time it takes to do them.
For example, I tend to pick one afternoon a week to do things like going to the chemist, take things to the post office, drop things at the charity shop, and do food shopping and any other similar tasks. This means that I’m not heading out every day, and I save time by doing them all together in one run.
Look over your recorded weekly tasks and see where it might be possible for you to do the same.
Outline your week
With your new list of priorities and non-negotiables we’re going to organise them all into a weekly outline. I suggest doing this separately to your usual planning system (diary or calendar) so that you can form an outline or template of sorts that you can refer to each week.
You are going to:
Add your scheduled responsibilities.
Add your non-negotiable priorities and any supporting habits.
Add your writing time for the week.
Schedule your weekly rest.
Determine and schedule other tasks that need to be done, carving out space for margin and transitions.
(I suggest leaving a buffer window as you transition between tasks to prevent you from feeling frantic as you move throughout your day. We don’t want our schedule to be jam-packed...leave some wiggle room eg. for when an appointment runs longer than anticipated, peak hour traffic gets you home later than normal etc)
Once you complete this, you can use it as a guide and plug it into your preferred planning system!
Now, celebrate! This section has been a big effort, one that will keep you moving towards your writing dream!